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NewsMinistry of Economic Affairs and the Automobile Industry Join Forces to Promote Electric Vehicles from 2030-2040

News

Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Automobile Industry Join Forces to Promote Electric Vehicles from 2030-2040

2018-01-09

A number of European countries, including Germany, the UK, and France, have announced the ban of petroleum vehicle sales by 2030 or 2040. Likewise, the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China also requested the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, and the Environmental Protection Administration to develop electric vehicle in concerted effort to reduce vehicles’ pollutant emission according to the strategy of air pollution control and industrial development. The objective is to completely replace public buses and government vehicles by electric vehicles by 2030, ban the selling of petroleum motorcycles by 2035, and petroleum automobiles by 2040.
Indeed, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, and the Environmental Protection Administration started to subsidize local governments to use electric vehicles for public buses 3 years ago to support the development of electric vehicle industry. In addition, the Ministry of Economic Affairs have also promoted the use of battery operated motorcycles, electric vehicle, and electric-powered public buses in a pilot run in 2009 and 2011 respectively, resulting in successfully installing 800 power charging stations for the electric automobiles, the launching of 290 electric buses for public service, the sale of more than 100,000 battery operated motorcycles, and the installation of more than 1,800 charging stations for battery operated motorcycles. These measures helped to lay down a solid foundation for the development of the electric vehicle industry.
In December 2017, Minister without Portfolio Chang Ching-Sen and Minister of Economic Affairs Mr. Shen engaged in lengthy discussion with the national motorcycle industry to launch the new industry. The Industrial Development Bureau at the Ministry of Economic Affairs was also engaged in several dialogues with the automobile associations and the industry for this reason.
An example of this initiative is the batteries used to operate motorcycles. The Executive Yuan has decided to continue subsidizing the purchase of battery operated motorcycles from this year (2018) to 2022. In addition, the Ministry of Economic Affairs will also assist to install 3,310 charging stations (of which 1,000 will be installed by CPC) for battery operated motorcycles in 5 years, and will work in concert with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to issue exclusive license plate numbers for battery operated motorcycles from this year (2018) onward, and design exclusive and more favorable parking space for this type of motorcycles. Furthermore, the Ministry of Interior made reserving pipeline for power charging facilities in buildings mandatory under the Building Act. The Environmental Protection Administration amended the Air Pollution Control Act for stricter control of air pollutant emission from motorcycles of more than 10 years old, and implements a progressively higher standard on CAFE to guide the motorcycle industry in producing battery operated motorcycles as supplementary measures.